“We understand his contributions to the franchise and our offer has taken them into account,” Cashman told ESPNNewYork.com. “We’ve encouraged him to test the market and see if there’s something he would prefer other than this. If he can, fine. That’s the way it works.”

I love it. The Yankees have offered Jeter three-years and $45 million. No other 37-year-old shortstop in baseball makes that much and aren’t going to anytime soon. So the Yankees are playing hardball here because, let’s face it, this is a generous offer considering the context.

Jeter is going nowhere. Maybe he does find a team that is willing to top $45 million. If he does he can turn around and tell the Yankees, ‘hey, look what I found’ and the Yankees will then up their offer. Until he finds that other team though, they shouldn’t bid against themselves.